TITLE:
The Role of Natural and Human-Mediated Pathways for Invasive Agricultural Pests: A Historical Analysis of Cases from Brazil
AUTHORS:
Marcelo Lopes-da-Silva, Marcio Martinello Sanches, Andréa Ramos Stancioli, Giliardi Alves, Regina Sugayama
KEYWORDS:
Bioinvasions, Biosecurity, Surveillance, Borders, Dispersion, Invasion Biology, Risk Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.5 No.7,
June
24,
2014
ABSTRACT: Information about
the geographic distribution of agricultural pests is the basis for all
pest-related agricultural and environmental protection policies. However, often
the pest’s records are incomplete and uncertain. Even with limitations, the
pest records are needed for any country to organize a system for agriculture
protection and to mobilize surveillance efforts. The first point is to identify
the imminence of biological invasions, which can be accomplished through the
collection of data on pest distribution. The basic information to evaluate the
predictability of an invasion is geographic distribution and the identification
of pathway types associated with the potential invader. Thus, the level of the
risk of introduction is assessed more objectively. In this article, cases of
introduction of pests were analyzed from published reports in Brazil in terms
of their geographic distribution at the time of their introduction. Taking into
consideration the country’s extensive terrestrial borders, this study attempts
to elucidate the role played by different pathways in each bioinvasion. This
analysis recognized the limitations of the historical method and underlying
uncertainties of each invasion event. Human-mediated pathways were the main
source of agricultural pest invasions in Brazil and the country was more a
disperser than a receptor of exotic agricultural pests and diseases in South
America. A new geographical hotspot (Northern South America and Caribbean
Region) for possible invasions was identified.